Safety-razor.



F. F. DORSEY.

SAFETY RAZOR. APPLICATION FILED sun's-l9. 1915.

1 $30,833 Patented June 19, I917.

STATES FARNUM r. DORSEY, or nocnnsrnn, NEW YORK SAFETY-RAZOR.

Application filed June 19,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FARNUM F. Donsnr, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Rochester,'in the county of Monroe and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Razor's, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safety-razors of the type in which the blademay be stropped in the ordinary manner and with any ordinarv strop,without removing the blade from the handle, or in any other waydismembering the razor.

It has previously been proposed to connect a razor-blade pivotally witha handle,

so that the blade may turn about an axis transverse to its length andlocated at the middle of the blade, whereby the blade may be broughteither into a stropping position, with its: length parallel with that ofthe handle, or into a shaving position with its length transverse tothat of the handle.

The present invention relates particularly to razors having this generalconstruction, and one object of the invention is to improve such razorswith respect to the means by which the razor-blade is held in thestropping position. To this end I employ a retaining-device for theblade-holder, and the blade is constructed and mounted so that when theblade is in shaving position this evice is in a position in which itdoes not interfere with the cooperative adjustment of the blade and theguard of the razor, While, on the other hand, when the blade is instropping position the retaining-device is brought to a position inwhich it projects substantially above the guard, so as to permit theblade in this position to be sufiiciently removed from the guard forconvenience in stropping.

Another object of the invention is to simplify the manipulation andimprove the operation of the razor, particularly with respect to themeans for retaining the blade in its respective positions for shavingand stropping. To this end I employ, in connection with twotelescopically arranged members, upon which the guard and theblade-holder are mounted, a spring which the action of the spring, theblade may be Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 19, 1917.

1915; Serial No. 35,101.

ing. it with a bar or shield which lies across the upper surface of theblade on the opposite side of the guard. The advantage of such a bar orshield is well known, in connection with safety-razors 'of other types,but it has not been employed in connection with a razor of the type towhich this invention relates.

To this end I employ a bar which is associated with the razor-blade inthe manner just described when the blade is in shaving position, and Imount this bar pivotally upon, or in connection with, the guard of therazor in such a manner, and at such a point, that the bar may be swungrearwardly, from operating position, through an angle of about 180without interference with the parts by which the blade is mounted andsupported, the bar when so retracted lying substantially in the plane ofthe guard so as not to interfere with the stropping I operation or withthe preliminary extension handle. In connection with this bar I alsoemploy means, preferably in the form of a spring, for retaining it inretracted position during the stropping operation.

Other objects of the invention, and the features of construction bywhich they are attained, will be set forth hereinafter in connectionwith the description of the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side-elevation, and Fig. 2 avertical section, of a safety-razor embodying the present invention,with the parts in position for shaving;

Figs. 3, 4: and 5 are, respectively, a planview, aside-elevation and afront-elevation of the same razor, with the parts in the stroppingposition;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 in Fig. 2, but on larger scale; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail-view, partly in section, showing theconstruction of the means by which the blade is retained in the holder.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a safety-razor adapted forusing thin interchangeable blades. The blade 10, which is a strip ofsheet steel with one edge sharpened, is seated in a slot in a holder 11.When in the shaving position, the blade cooperates with .a guard havingthe usual curved teeth 12, these teeth being formed at the forward edgeof asheet-metal guardplate 13. In this position the blade is clampedagainst the guard by meansof a clamp-bar 14, which is formed ofsheetmetal and is of suflicient width to provide a smooth shield toprevent contact between the face and the upper surface of the blade andthe blade-holder.

The parts just described are mounted on a stock which is shown ascomprising two telescopically arranged members 16 and 17. The member 16,which may be described as the handle, is hollow, and the member 17 whichmay be described as the shank, slides within the handle. Theblade-holder is mounted at the upper end of the shank17. For thispurpose there is a head 18, at the middle of the blade-holder, which isprovided with a pivot-stud 19 arranged to turn in a perforation in theend of the shank, as shown particularly in Fig. 2, so that the blade maybe swung from the shaving position shown in Figs. land 2 to, the stropin position shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, in wllic latter position thelength of the blade is parallel with that of the stock.

With the blade in stropping position the razor may be manipulated, bymeans of the handle 16, in such a manner as'to strop the blade in theordinary manner upon any ordi-.

nary strop. It is necessary that the shank be prevented from turningwithin the bandle during the stropping operation, and accordingly theforward surface of the shank is flattened for a sufficient distance, asshown in Figs. 2 and 6, and is arranged to cooperate with a key 20 whichis soldered, or otherwise fixed, within the upper part of the handle.

Before moving the blade to stropping position it is necessary to removethe clampbar from operative position. This bar is accordingly formedintegrally with two lat eral arms 21 which are pivoted at their rearends, on pins 22 which project outwardly from lugs 23, these lugs beingbent upwardly from the sheet-metal of the guardplate at the side-edgesof'the' plate. This arrangement permits the clamp-bar to be I swung backto the position shown in Fig.

4:. In order to press the clamp-bar against the bladewhen the bar is inoperation a flat spring 24: is riveted, at its middle, to the lowersurface of the guard-plate, and the ends of this spring engage the loweredges of the arms'21 adjacent the pivots 22. These edges are so formedthat the spring tends to swing the clamp-bar downwardly when it is in.ts forward position, as in Figs. 1 and 2, and also to retain theclamp-bar in the ositionshown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 when the lade is instropping position. The retracting movement of the clamping-bar, whichhas just been described, has an extent of about 180, and brings the barapproximately into the plane of the guard, but on the opposite side ofthe handle from the guard. In this position of the clamp-bar it oes notinterfere either with the stropor with the hand of the user during thestropping operation.

It is desirable, though not essential, to prevent the blade-holder frommoving pivotally with respect to the shank when the blade is instropping position. For this purpose I employ means including a spring25 which is located within the hollow lower portion of the shank 17 theupper end of the spring being connected with the shank, while the lowerend is attached to a pin 26 fixed transversely in the handle. A detentis also employed to cooperate with the bladeholder. This detent, whichis formed of sheet-metal, comprises a transverse member 27 which has, atits ends, integral pivotmembers 28 j ournaled in perforations in thelugs 23, as shown particularly in Fig. 4:. Near the middle of the member27 is an arm 29 which is provided with two fingers 30 and 31 with arecess between them. A stop-lug 32 projects from the detent in positionto arrest the pivotal movement of the detent when it has been swungupwardly into a position in which the arm 29 is vertical, as in Figs. 3,4 and 5. After the detent has been swung to this position theblade-holder may be swung, with respect to the shank 17, in a directionto cause the end of the bladeholder to engage the upper portion of thefinger 31, whereby the swinging movement of the blade-holder isarrested. Upon reback into the handle under the influence of the spring25. The detent is prevented from swinging forwardly, during thestropping operation, by engagement of the fin er,

30with a prgjection 35 on the blade-hol er,

as shown in ig. 4.

The razor is restored to shaving position by pulling the blade-holderand the shank upwardly far enough to disengage the bladeholder from thedetent, then swinging the detent back to its normal horizontal position,swinging the blade into shaving position and permitting the blade andthe shank to fall until the blade rests upon the guard,

and, finally, swinging the clamp-bar back into engagement with theblade.

The spring 25, in addition to participating in the function of lockingthe bladeholder against pivotal movement, assists the clamp-bar inretaining the blade and the blade-holder in the normal shaving position.

Any ordinary or suitable form of blade may be used in connection withthe parts above described, by suitable modifications in theblade-holder, but I have shown the razor as adapted to use blades of awell-known form in which they are provided with notches at their ends,these notches being located near the rear corners of the blades. Toretain the blade in the holder the notch .at one end is engaged with arivet, of which the projection 35 before mentioned is the head, thisrivet passing through the sides of the blade-holder. In order toreleasably engage the notch at the other end of the blade, theblade-holder is providedwith a blade-retainer in the form of a springsheetmetal clip 36, which embraces and slides upon the end of theholder, as shown particularly in Figs. 3 and 7. A metal block 37 isfastened between the sides of the clip,

at one end, by means of a rivet 38, this block being adapted tocooperate with the notch in the blade, and the blade-holder is similarlynotched at this end to receive the block. When the blade is to bedisengagedthe clip is slid toward the end of the holder, thus removingthe block from the notch in the blade. To limit the movements of theblade-retainer, and to hold it in either'its operative or itsinoperative position,-an inwardly-projecting bead 39 is formed at onecorner of the clip, and this head cooperates with two recesses 40 and 41 formed in the surface of the blade-holder, as shown in Fig. 7.

My invention is not. limited to the embodiment thereof hereinbeforedescribed and ilustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it may beembodied in various other forms within the nature of the invention as itis defined in the following claims.

. 1. A safety-razor having, in combination,

a stock comprising two telescopically arranged members; a guard mountedat the end of one of said members; a blade-holder mounted at the end ofthe other of said members and arranged to swing, about a transverseaxis, from shaving position, transverse to the length of the stock, intoa stropping position parallel with the length of the stock; a catchmounted on the first of said members in position to retain thebladeholder in stropping position; and a spring (506 erating-wit ten ingto move them relatively m a directhe telescopic members and tion tobring the blade-holder and the catch together.

2. A safety-razor having, in combination, a stock comprising twotelescopically arranged members; a guard mounted at the end of one ofsaid members; a blade; a

' blade-holder mounted at the end of the other said members and arrangedto swing about a transverse axis; and a catch movably connected with theguard and adapted to cooperate with the blade-holder when the latter isswung to stropping position, the catch having a part accessible, formanual operation, at the'side of the razor.

4. A safety-razor having, in combination, a stock comprising twotelescopically arranged members; a blade; a blade-holder mounted atthe'end of one of said members and arranged to swing about a transverseaxis; a guard mounted at the end of the other of said members; a catchalso mounted on the second of said members and adapted to engage the endof the blade-holder and lock it in stropping position parallel with thetelescopic members; and a spring inclosed within and connecting saidmembers and tending to move them relatively in a direction to draw theblade-holder into engagement with saidcatch and also to draw the bladeinto engagement with the guard when the blade is in shaving position.

5. A safety-razor having, in combination, a stock comprising twotelescopically arranged members; a guard mounted at the end of one ofsaid members; a blade; a blade-holder mounted at the end of the other ofsaid members and arranged to swing, about a transverse axis, fromshaving position to a stropping position arallel .with -the telescopicmembers; a c amp-bar arranged to engage the upper surface of the bladewhen the blade is in shaving position, the clamp-bar being pivotallyconnected with the first of said members and movable, from shavingposition, to a position in the rear,

blade-holder mounted at the end of the other of said members andarranged to swing, about a transverse axis, from shaving position to astropping position parallel with 5' the telescopic members; a U-shapedclampmember arranged to engage the upper surface of the blade, when inshaving position, and pivoted, at its ends, to the first of saidtelescopic members, substantially in the plane of the stock, so as toswing rearwardly 10 clear of the blade-holder and its connections withthe stock; and resilient means for retaining the clamp-member both inshaving position, and in a rearwardly-swung stropping position with itstransverse portion sub- 15 stantially at the level of the guard.

FARNUM F. DQRSEY.

